Before composing his usual moodboard of inspirational images, Erdem Moralioglu scoured the backstage of London museums this season. “I spent time with the curators, observing how they restored the works for which they are responsible”, says the 45-year-old designer, whose entire British elite (Anna Wintour in the lead) idolize floral prints. From corsets to tapestries, from Flemish paintings to engravings, the designer wanted to translate into fashion the involvement of the curators he met at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, the British Museum and the Tate. “They are professionals obsessed with the idea of saving our heritage”he admires.
These visits nourish a particularly successful collection, presented under the exterior columns of the British Museum. Between the delicacy of the gestures and the sometimes dilapidated aspect of the works, the creator seeks to “Finding a balance between the precious and the decayed in clothes”. He achieves this with dresses that are flowery or borrow from master paintings, but veiled in organza, “like dust sheets” reserves ; a white poplin shirt that looks like a scientist’s coat; torn floral jacquards, or high-waisted dresses like a canvas on which are painted still lifes by hand.
